Pile and caisson.



E. BIGNELL.

PILE AND CAISSON. APPLICATION FILED MAY 31, 1913.

1,182,134. Patented May 9, 1916 iiipllilllilllllllzillli 0/ fiivenzvri UNITED STATES PATEu'r' omen.

EDWARD BIGNELL, OF LINCOLN, NEBRASKA. ASSIGNOR. BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO CONCRETE FILING COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEBRASKA,

FILE. AND CAISSON.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 9. 1916.

Application filed May 31. 1913. Serial No. 770,935.

,To all whom it may concern:

ing specification, illustrated by the accompanying drawings.

My invention relates to that class of subsurface structures, such as piles, sheet pil ing and caissons, commonly formed of concrete or other cohesive or adhesive material, which are sunk by gravity in excavations made by themselves while sinking, and are utilized as foundations for wharves, piers, bridges and other super-structures to be supported thereby. I have discovered that jets of Water discharged in the usual manner from the sides of such piles and caissons as aids in the sinking of the same, displace too much matter from the sides of the excava: tions in which such foundations are being sunk, loosen too much of surrounding earth and thereby necessitate the removal of unnecessarily large quantities of loosened earth from those excavations, as well as the use of unnecessarily large quantities of water commingled with earth, and of power for driving the water into and out of the excavation.

It is the main object of the invention to obviate these disadvantages and to facilitate the sinking of. such foundations in the earth; as well as the raising of the same, when necessary, from their sunken or sub merged positions; and thereby to increase the depths to which they can be driven by their own weight, as well as the vertical distances through which they can be lifted from those positions. T o accomplish these objects I incorporate in a pile or caisson of the specified class a plurality of upwardly directed flaring nozzles, for discharging jets of water upward into the excavation in which that foundation simultaneously sinks. The' invention involves directing the spreading jets vertically upward in lubricating contact with the surface of the structure, and in avoiding the horizontal impingement of those jets against the surrounding earth.

In the accompanying drawings, illustrating some of the manners in which I have contemplated applying the principles of the invention, Figure 1 is a sectional view of a I the top in the direction of a portion of a caisson shell, showing an aperture formed therein for the purpose of di recting a fanlike or spreading jet of water under pressure flaringly upward in lubrieating contact with the peripheral surface of the shell. Fig. is an incomplete sectional elevation of a pile having among others two nozzles which are constructed in accordance with the same principles. Fig. 3 is a horizontal cross section on the section line of Fig. 2.

In the illustrative pile which is indicated in Fig. 1, the upwardly directed aperture 14 formed integrally with the caisson shell 12 by making an incision through that shell and by extending outwardly and up wardly the daring lower lip of the aperture, as shown.

The illustrative pile shown in Figs. 2 and 3, is of the general construction and mode of operation disclosed in Letters Patent of the United States, No. 1,024,820, which were issued to me April 30, 1912, for improve ments in piling construction. The body, or stem 1, of the present pile is formed of concrete or other cement, and is of uniform circular cross section. It has a longitudinal axial opening 2, which is to be supplied with water under pressure while the pile is being sunk. It is destitute of all lining of the central opening 2, and has a plurality of upwardly directed side nozzles which communicate severally with the hole 9., and are presented in several alternative forms, 8, 8 8, 8 and S The nozzle 8 is narrowed at radius extending thereto from the axis of the stem 1, and is made laterally flaring upward. The nozzle 8 is similarly flaring and .has at its mouth a concavo-convex curvature, hugging the stem 1, as shown in Fig.3.

In the operation of the invention, the lateral jets, directed as described and severally reinforcing one another, coalesce in the form of a continuous ascending sheet or film of water closely enveloping the pile and lubricating the surface thereof on all sides, preventing the adjacent earth from adhering thereto and elevating the displaced matter to the surface.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and novel and desire to secure by Letters Patent is,-

1. A cylindrical subsurface. structure of the specified class, comprising a plurality of 10 sides of the pile upwardly directed flaring nozzles, connected with the hollow interior of the structure, and terminally curved to hug its convex sur face.

2; A cylindrical sub-surface structure provided with an excavating jet, a plurality of lateral nozzles-arranged along the sides of the structure close enough together to carry the excavated magelgal upwardly along the arranged 'at diflerent levelsgsaid nozzles being terminally curved to conform to the convex surface of the 7 structures In witness whereof I have, hereunto affixed my signature in the presencepf two 15 

